०२७

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Jamison Brereton

27 (853)
Indra
Vasukra Aindra
24 verses: triṣṭubh
This is one of the most obscure and also one of the most intriguing hymns in the R̥gveda. In general and in its many particulars it has received a number of compet ing and conflicting treatments. We will restrict ourselves to presenting our own, often tentative, interpretation, without discussion of other possibilities that have been advanced.
First of all, in our opinion the hymn falls into two complementary units, verses 1–12 and 13–24, with the former subdivided into verses 1–7, 8–10, and 11–12 and the latter into verses 13–18 and 19–24. The overall theme of the whole hymn is the proper reciprocal relationship between men and gods, especially Indra, as symbol
ized by the sacrifice, and the proper functioning of the cosmos that this mutual rela tionship ensures. But this theme is treated in distinct ways in the course of the hymn. The first half is primarily in dialogue between Indra and the singer. In it Indra contrasts the aid he gives to sacrificers with the destruction he metes out to non-sacrificers (vss. 1, 4), and the singer echoes Indra’s contrastive pairing by announcing his intention to offer to Indra, as opposed to the self-aggrandizing atheists (vs. 2). Indra is somewhat skeptical of the singer’s intent (vs. 3): he suggests that men sacrifice to him only when they need his help (3cd), but after he has helped them win, they forget to offer to him (3ab). Indra continues boasting about his pow ers (vs. 5), perhaps taken up by the singer (or still in the mouth of Indra himself; vs. 6), promising destruction to non-sacrificers. The singer’s glorification of Indra’s powers and the devastation he will produce ends this section (vs. 7).
The contrast between followers of Indra and their opposites is continued by another image in the next verses, the metaphor of lost and straying livestock. In verse 8 cows are wandering loose, grazing in the pasture of a stranger, though accompanied by a cowherd. In our view the cows stand for men, turning away from devotion to “their own lord,” Indra, to follow other ways and other leaders. In verse 9 Indra promises to reassemble his lost herd and reestablish proper relation ships among them. The first half of verse 10 has the sound of a truth formulation, again announcing the reassembling of the herd, with the second half of the verse expressing the consequences for his weakened enemies, using the striking image of these enemies fighting Indra “with women,” a phrase used elsewhere of about-to be-defeated opponents (V.30.9; cf. I.104.3).
The mention of women in verse 10 may have prompted the coda verses 11–12, which treat the legal issue of the flawed woman given in marriage, known also from the later dharma literature (cf. Mānava Dharma Śāstra IX.72–73, VIII.205, 224). According to Manu a father is culpable if he tries to marry off a physically or mentally flawed girl without declaring her faults in advance, but if he has informed the bridegroom before the marriage, the latter has no legal recourse. Here verse 10 contrasts the suitor of a blind girl who knows she is blind (ab), with one who was tricked into marriage without that knowledge and who therefore has the right to deploy mení “the power of thwarted exchange.” (For further discussion, see Jamison 1996b.) Verse 12 presents the opposite picture of an unflawed and happy bride, embodying the appropriate and successful functioning of the exchange rela tions that characterize Ārya society.
Thus, though this first half of X.27 utilizes three dominant images—sacrificers versus non-sacrificers, a unified herd following its herdsman versus dispersed and straying livestock, and a properly contracted marriage versus one that involves fraud and deception—all three contrast proper social relationships with aberrant ones, and warn of the consequences of the latter
The second half of the hymn seems superficially to have nothing to do with what went before, but viewed in the larger context it can be seen to pick up the first and most important image, that of sacrifice as the binding relationship between men and gods, and to develop it. The first six verses of this half (vss. 13–18) deal, in our view, with the creation of the sacrifice and the mystery of its central focus, the fire. This section begins with two riddling verses (13–14) identifying the fire without naming it: verse 13 of the already kindled fire and verse 14 of its creation by the “lofty steed” without shadow or foliage, probably the fire-churning spindle (later pramantha), and the mother, probably the lower fire stick (aráṇī) with a hole in which the spindle is turned and from which the “embryo,” the fire itself, emerges. The second half of this verse describes the oblation, conceived of as a cow, “lick ing the calf (that is, the fire) of another (that is, the fire stick)” when poured into the fire. The creation of the fire is also treated in verse 16, with much of the same lexicon, but with the addition of the ten fingers, which manipulate the fire-making apparatus.
In between is an enigmatic verse (15) about unidentified but numerically pre cise groups coming from different directions. In our view this treats the original establishment of the sacrifice through the cooperation of various prototypical Ārya communities (perhaps including the Seven Seers, the Navagvas, and the Daśagvas).1414 X.27
This theme is continued, though somewhat enigmatically, in verse 17, but in verse 18 there is schism: two groups go off in opposite directions and follow opposite cus toms, cooking versus non-cooking. It is the cooks and their fire who are predicted to prevail. With this we return to the stark divisions of the first half of the hymn between sacrificers and non-sacrificers. The split depicted in verse 18 also reminds us of the fuller treatment of sacrificial schism in I.33.4–10.
If the first eighteen verses of this hymn are fiendishly difficult, the last six (19–24) might properly be termed impossible—not so much because of their grammar, but because of the rare words, the obscurity of the references, and the unclarity of the relationships of the verses to each other and to the rest of the hymn. The interpretation that follows is even more tentative than what has pre
ceded. The first two verses of this section (19–20) seem to be riddles turning on astronomical or temporal references. The first may refer to the year and its com ponent parts (“the horde”) turning by itself and regularly bringing an end to the mortal generations while renewing itself. The “two oxen of the Pulverizer” (death or old age?) in verse 20 could perhaps be another temporal reference, to night and day as similarly measuring out the lifespan of humans, beneath the eternal world of heaven and the heavenly bodies. This theme appears to be continued in the first half of the next verse (21), though what the “mace” (vájra) represents here is entirely unclear—perhaps the year or other temporal division as a weapon that smites mortals. The second half of this verse seems to offer a less bleak picture than the inevitable decay and destruction that temporal divisions bring in their train: there is “other fame,” to which old age can lead, though what that fame is or is based on is not stated.
If we are correct, the implicit answer to this question is the sacrifice and its cen ter, fire, and this answer is given obliquely in verse 22. Fire the substance is always potentially present, but not always actually present, and so it appears to defy the temporally defined progress to old age and death. Latent “within every tree,” it can burst forth at any time. It is frightening in some of its effects (the flames as “man-eating birds”) and strikes terror in all beings (pāda c), but is also the benevo lent focus of sacrifice (pāda d). The original establishment of the sacrifice by the gods seems to be treated in verse 23, and in the thoroughly obscure last pāda of that verse Indra, unnamed, may come himself to the sacrifice for epiphany, thus returning us to the beginning of the hymn and the direct involvement of Indra with sacrificers.
The last verse is no clearer than the preceding ones, though it seems to be announcing a final, instructive truth according to which one should lead one’s life. Perhaps the idea is that the sacrifice is the means to life, which connects one to the eternal world of heaven and the sun. The destructive temporal forces mentioned earlier (vss. 20–21) were “below the sun,” but in this final verse the sun reveals itself, hides the mist (if that’s what the phonologically problematic hapax busá means), and reaches its “foot” (a sunbeam going toward the ground?) out to be seen, thus providing a potential bond for the sacrificing mortal to the higher world. This shaft of light, liberated from its covering, that ends the hymn, seems an optimistic prom ise to the addressee of better things than decay and death.
But much of this is poorly supported speculation, and the hymn, especially the final verses of the hymn, invites further detailed investigation.

01 असत्सु मे - त्रिष्टुप्

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अ᳓सत् सु᳓ मे जरितः सा᳓भिवेगो᳓
य᳓त् सुन्वते᳓ य᳓जमानाय शि᳓क्षम्
अ᳓नाशीर्दाम् अह᳓म् अस्मि प्रहन्ता᳓
सत्यध्वृ᳓तं वृजिनाय᳓न्तम् आभु᳓म्

02 यदीदहं युधये - त्रिष्टुप्

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य᳓दी᳓द् अहं᳓ युध᳓ये संन᳓यानि
अ᳓देवयून् तनु᳓वा शू᳓शुजानान्
अमा᳓ ते तु᳓म्रं वृषभ᳓म् पचानि
तीव्रं᳓ सुत᳓म् पञ्चदशं᳓ नि᳓ षिञ्चम्

03 नाहं तम् - त्रिष्टुप्

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ना᳓हं᳓ तं᳓ वेद य᳓ इ᳓ति ब्र᳓वीति
अ᳓देवयून् सम᳓रणे जघन्वा᳓न्
यदा᳓वा᳓ख्यत् सम᳓रणम् ऋ᳓घावद्
आ᳓द् इ᳓द् ध मे वृषभा᳓ प्र᳓ ब्रुवन्ति

04 यदज्ञातेषु वृजनेष्वासम् - त्रिष्टुप्

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य᳓द् अ᳓ज्ञातेषु वृज᳓नेषु आ᳓सं
वि᳓श्वे सतो᳓ मघ᳓वानो म आसन्
जिना᳓मि वे᳓त् क्षे᳓म आ᳓ स᳓न्तम् आभु᳓म्
प्र᳓ तं᳓ क्षिणाम् प᳓र्वते पादगृ᳓ह्य

05 न वा - त्रिष्टुप्

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न᳓ वा᳓ उ मां᳓ वृज᳓ने वारयन्ते
न᳓ प᳓र्वतासो य᳓द् अह᳓म् मनस्ये᳓
म᳓म स्वना᳓त् कृधुक᳓र्णो भयात
एवे᳓द् अ᳓नु द्यू᳓न् किर᳓णः स᳓म् एजात्

06 दर्शन्न्वत्र शृतपाँ - त्रिष्टुप्

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द᳓र्शन् नु᳓ अ᳓त्र शृतपाँ᳓ अनिन्द्रा᳓न्
बाहुक्ष᳓दः श᳓रवे प᳓त्यमानान्
घृ᳓षुं वा · ये᳓ निनिदुः᳓ स᳓खायम्
अ᳓ध्य् ऊ नु᳓ एषु पव᳓यो ववृत्युः

07 अभूवौड़्क्षीर्व्युट् आयुरानड्दर्षन्नु - त्रिष्टुप्

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अ᳓भूर् उ अउ᳓क्षीर् वि᳓ उ आ᳓युर् आनड्
द᳓र्षन् नु᳓ पू᳓र्वो अ᳓परो नु᳓ दर्षत्
दुवे᳓ पव᳓स्ते प᳓रि तं᳓ न᳓ भूतो
यो᳓ अस्य᳓ पारे᳓ र᳓जसो विवे᳓ष

08 गावो यवम् - त्रिष्टुप्

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गा᳓वो य᳓वम् प्र᳓युता अर्यो᳓ अक्षन्
ता᳓ अपश्यं सह᳓गोपाश् च᳓रन्तीः
ह᳓वा इ᳓द् अर्यो᳓ अभि᳓तः स᳓म् आयन्
कि᳓यद् आसु स्व᳓पतिश् छन्दयाते

09 सं यद्वयम् - त्रिष्टुप्

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सं᳓ य᳓द् व᳓यं यवसा᳓दो ज᳓नानाम्
अहं᳓ यवा᳓द उरुअ᳓ज्रे अन्तः᳓
अ᳓त्रा युक्तो᳓ अवसाता᳓रम् इछाद्
अ᳓थो अ᳓युक्तं युनजद् ववन्वा᳓न्

10 अत्रेदु मे - त्रिष्टुप्

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अ᳓त्रे᳓द् उ मे मंससे सत्य᳓म् उक्तं᳓
द्विपा᳓च् च य᳓च् च᳓तुष्पात् संसृजा᳓नि
स्त्रीभि᳓र् यो᳓ अ᳓त्र वृ᳓षणम् पृतन्या᳓द्
अ᳓युद्धो अस्य वि᳓ भजानि वे᳓दः

11 यस्यानक्षा दुहिता - त्रिष्टुप्

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य᳓स्यानक्षा᳓ दुहिता᳓ जा᳓तु आ᳓स
क᳓स् तां᳓ विद्वाँ᳓ अभि᳓ मन्याते अन्धा᳓म्
कतरो᳓ मेनि᳓म् प्र᳓ति त᳓म् मुचाते
य᳓ ईं व᳓हाते य᳓ ईं वा वरेया᳓त्

12 कियती योषा - त्रिष्टुप्

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कि᳓यती यो᳓षा मर्यतो᳓ वधूयोः᳓
प᳓रिप्रीता प᳓न्यसा वा᳓रियेण
भद्रा᳓ वधू᳓र् भवति य᳓त् सुपे᳓शाः
स्वयं᳓ सा᳓ मित्रं᳓ वनुते ज᳓ने चित्

13 पत्तो जगार - त्रिष्टुप्

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पत्तो᳓ जगार प्रतिअ᳓ञ्चम् अत्ति
शीर्ष्णा᳓ शि᳓रः प्र᳓ति दधौ व᳓रूथम्
आ᳓सीन ऊर्ध्वा᳓म् उप᳓सि क्षिणाति
नि᳓अङ्ङ् उत्ताना᳓म् अ᳓नु एति भू᳓मिम्

14 बृहन्नच्छायो अपलाशो - त्रिष्टुप्

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बृह᳓न्न् अछायो᳓ अपलाशो᳓ अ᳓र्वा
तस्थउ᳓ माता᳓ वि᳓षितो अत्ति ग᳓र्भः
अन्य᳓स्या वत्सं᳓ रिहती᳓ मिमाय
क᳓या भुवा᳓ नि᳓ दधे धेनु᳓र् ऊ᳓धः

15 सप्त वीरासो - त्रिष्टुप्

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सप्त᳓ वीरा᳓सो अधरा᳓द् उ᳓द् आयन्न्
अष्टो᳓त्तरा᳓त्तात् स᳓म् अजग्मिरन् ते᳓
न᳓व पश्चा᳓तात् स्थिविम᳓न्त आयन्
द᳓श प्रा᳓क् सा᳓नु वि᳓ तिरन्ति अ᳓श्नः

16 दशानामेकं कपिलम् - त्रिष्टुप्

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दशाना᳓म् ए᳓कं कपिलं᳓ समानं᳓
तं᳓ हिन्वन्ति क्र᳓तवे पा᳓रियाय
ग᳓र्भम् माता᳓ सु᳓धितं वक्ष᳓णासु
अ᳓वेनन्तं तुष᳓यन्ती बिभर्ति

17 पीवानं मेषमपचन्त - त्रिष्टुप्

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पी᳓वानम् मेष᳓म् अपचन्त वीरा᳓
नि᳓उप्ता अक्षा᳓ अ᳓नु दीव᳓ आसन्
दुवा᳓ ध᳓नुम् बृहती᳓म् अप्सु᳓ अन्तः᳓
पवि᳓त्रवन्ता चरतः पुन᳓न्ता

18 वि क्रोशनासो - त्रिष्टुप्

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वि᳓ क्रोशना᳓सो वि᳓षुअञ्च आयन्
प᳓चाति ने᳓मो नहि᳓ प᳓क्षद् अर्धः᳓
अय᳓म् मे देवः᳓ सविता᳓ त᳓द् आह
द्रु᳓अन्न इ᳓द् वनवत् सर्पि᳓रन्नः

19 अपश्यं ग्रामम् - त्रिष्टुप्

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अ᳓पश्यं ग्रा᳓मं व᳓हमानम् आरा᳓द्
अचक्र᳓या स्वध᳓या व᳓र्तमानम्
सि᳓षक्ति अर्यः᳓ प्र᳓ युगा᳓ ज᳓नानां
सद्यः᳓ शिश्ना᳓ प्रमिनानो᳓ न᳓वीयान्

20 एतौ मे - त्रिष्टुप्

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एतउ᳓ मे गा᳓वौ प्रमर᳓स्य युक्तउ᳓
मो᳓ षु᳓ प्र᳓ सेधीर् मु᳓हुर् इ᳓न् ममन्धि
आ᳓पश् चिद् अस्य वि᳓ नशन्ति अ᳓र्थं
सू᳓रश् च मर्क᳓ उ᳓परो बभूवा᳓न्

21 अयं यो - त्रिष्टुप्

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अयं᳓ यो᳓ व᳓ज्रः पुरुधा᳓ वि᳓वृत्तो
अवः᳓ सू᳓र्यस्य बृहतः᳓ पु᳓रीषात्
श्र᳓व इ᳓द् एना᳓ परो᳓ अन्य᳓द् अस्ति
त᳓द् अव्यथी᳓ जरिमा᳓णस् तरन्ति

22 वृक्षेवृक्षे नियता - त्रिष्टुप्

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वृक्षे᳓-वृक्षे नि᳓यता मीमयद् गउ᳓स्
त᳓तो व᳓यः प्र᳓ पतान् पूरुषा᳓दः
अ᳓थेदं᳓ वि᳓श्वम् भु᳓वनम् भयात
इ᳓न्द्राय सुन्व᳓द् ऋ᳓षये च शि᳓क्षत्

23 देवानां माने - त्रिष्टुप्

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देवा᳓नाम् मा᳓ने प्रथमा᳓ अतिष्ठन्
कृन्त᳓त्राद् एषाम् उ᳓परा उ᳓द् आयन्
त्र᳓यस् तपन्ति पृथिवी᳓म् अनूपा᳓
दुवा᳓ बृ᳓बूकं वहतः पु᳓रीषम्

24 सा ते - त्रिष्टुप्

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सा᳓ ते जीवा᳓तुर् उत᳓ त᳓स्य विद्धि
मा᳓ स्मैतादृ᳓ग् अ᳓प गूहः समर्ये᳓
आविः᳓ सु᳓वः कृणुते᳓ गू᳓हते बुसं᳓
स᳓ पादु᳓र् अस्य निर्णि᳓जो न᳓ मुच्यते